Hydroxytyrosol (HTS) is a natural
polyphenol abundant in
olive oil. Increasing evidence indicates HTS has beneficial effect on human health for preventing various diseases. In the present study, we investigated the protective effects of HTS on
acrolein-induced toxicity in human
retinal pigment epithelial cell line, ARPE-19, a cellular model of smoking- and
age-related macular degeneration.
Acrolein, a major component of the gas phase cigarette
smoke and also a product of lipid peroxidation in vivo, at 75 μmol/L for 24 h caused significant loss of cell viability, oxidative damage (increase in
oxidant generation and oxidative damage to
proteins and
DNA, decrease in
antioxidants and
antioxidant enzymes, and also inactivation of the Keap1/Nrf2 pathway), and
mitochondrial dysfunction (decrease in membrane potential, activities of mitochondrial complexes, viable mitochondria, oxygen consumption, and factors for mitochondrial biogenesis, and increase in
calcium). Pre-treatment with HTS dose dependently and also time dependently protected the ARPE-19 cells from
acrolein-induced oxidative damage and
mitochondrial dysfunction. A short-term pre-treatment with HTS (48 h) required > 75 μmol/L for showing protection while a long-term pre-treatment (7 days) showed protective effect from 5 μmol/L on. The protective effect of HTS in this model was as potent as that of established mitochondria-targeting
antioxidant nutrients. These results suggest that HTS is also a mitochondrial-targeting
antioxidant nutrient and that dietary administration of HTS may be an effective measure in reducing and or preventing cigarette
smoke-induced or age-related
retinal pigment epithelial degeneration, such as age-associated
macular degeneration.